Prior art tools for removing electrical contacts from an insert or housing passage are known. These tools have generally a sleeve or modified sleeve configuration. The sleeve may be modified to have an axial slit through the sleeve end thereof or to include a plunger. Typically, the sleeve is inserted over the contact to release it from the housing passage. Then a portion of the contact (such as an outwardly extending wire) is manually grasped and pulled to remove the contact from the passage. Alternatively to such grasping, some prior art extraction tools use a plunger through the passage.
A requirement to manually grasp the contact requires the use of both of the operator's hands in some cases and other cases require access simultaneously to both sides of the contact. Since it is frequently impossible or undesirable to access both sides of the contact simultaneously or to require the use of both hands, such prior art systems have limitations.
Further, the apparatus which require manual grasping of an exposed portion of the contact to accomplish the removal of a contact presupposes that there will be such an exposed portion. Modern electrical connectors, however, do not always have such an exposed portion for removal. Accordingly, such prior art apparatus are not appropriate for these situations.
Prior art extraction tools which are sleeves are disadvantageous in that the tool will not operate when a portion of the contact is bent away from its customary position. Since contacts including a plurality of fine (e.g. diameter of 0.008 inches) wires are in use and occasionally one of the wires is bent away from alignment to have a perpendicular portion, such tools maybe ineffective to remove the contact with a bent wire.
Accordingly, the electrical contact extraction apparatus of the prior art have significant undesirable features or limitations.